In a 4-minute video posted to his Facebook page, the Tallahassee mayor stood with his wife R. Jai, a lake in the background, and thanked his supporters. He also officially acknowledged Republican Ron DeSantis as the winner.

"R. Jai and I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mr. DeSantis on becoming the next governor of the great state of Florida," Gillum said.

Shortly after Gillum tweeted about his concession, DeSantis responded.

The race went to a legally required recount, but after an initial machine recount, DeSantis still led Gillum by more than 30,000 votes.

More than 8 million ballots went to a machine recount that ended Thursday afternoon. The final tally was 4,075,445 for DeSantis and 4,041,762 for Gillum. Gillum said he and his wife wanted to ensure every vote had been counted.

"We wanted to make sure that every vote, including those that were undervotes and overvotes — as long as it was a legally cast vote — we wanted those votes to be counted," he said.

Losing the race for the governor's mansion doesn't mean Gillum will stop working on behalf of Florida voters. He will end his four-year term as Tallahassee mayor later this month but said he would fight to update the state election system and advocate for the issues that matter to him and the more than 4 million people who voted for him.

"We also want you to know that even though this election may be beyond us, that this —although nobody wanted to be governor more than me — this was not just about an election cycle," he said. "This was about creating the kind of change in this state that really allows for the voices of everyday people to show up again in our government, our state and our communities."

President Donald Trump offered praise on Twitter for Gillum, whom he had frequently attacked leading up to Election Day.

Congratulations to Andrew Gillum on having run a really tough and competitive race for Governor of the Great State of Florida. He will be a strong Democrat warrior long into the future - a force to reckon with!

"Congratulations to Andrew Gillum on having run a really tough and competitive race for Governor of the Great State of Florida, Trump tweeted. "He will be a strong Democrat warrior long into the future — a force to reckon with!"

Gillum said he has no plans of stepping out of the spotlight completely.

"Stay tuned. There is more to come," he said. "The fight for Florida continues."

A supporter's eyes well up with tears as Andrew Gillum makes his concession speech in front of Lee Hall on the Florida A&M campus in Tallahassee, Fla. after losing the governor's race to Ron DeSantis Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Tori Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat